Ranieri said: “Always I said I don’t want to keep players who are not happy but at the top there is the club. Three of us have to be happy, club, me and the player.

“I like Leo because he is a fantastic professional, a good player. I told him my impression. Now they are speaking and I think at the end he will stay with us. I want him.

“He’s a striker, I only have so many strikers. There is only (Islam) Slimani to hold the ball up and I need two strikers who are very similar. I can understand, of course, because until two years ago he was used to playing every match.”